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Research Proposal
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Coalescing Stylistics and Critical Discourse Analysisin Interpreting Selected Speeches &ndDeveloping
Exercises for Undergraduate Stu den tsJ .
Submitted to:ChairpersonR.P.C.JKLU Jaipur(July 07,2013)
Submitted by:Manoj SharmaPh. D. Scholar
JK LAKSHMIPAT UNIVERSfTYIJ JAIPUR
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OUTLINE OF THE PROPOSED TOPIC OF RESEARCH
Name of the candidate Manoj Sharma
2012Ph.D ENGG004IDNo.
Place of Research Work &
Organization
Proposed Supervisor Details
Name
Qualification
Designation
Organization
J.K.L.U. Jaipur (Rajasthan)
Dr. Sanjay Kumar
Ph.D.
Associate Professor
J.K.L.U. Jaipur
Proposed Topic of Research
Coalescing Stylistics and Critical Discourse Analysis in
Interpreting Selected Speeches and Developing Exercises for
Undergraduate Students.
Objectives of the Proposed Research
• To understand a speech deeply by applying Critical Discourse Analysis.
• To analyze the speeches syntactically as well as semantically.
• To study the ideology, power structure, and subtext of selected speeches.
• To help students develop literary and linguistic understanding of the language (of a
speech) with the help of stylistics and discourse analysis - a newly developing branch
of linguistics.
• To help students discover textual and sub textual contents of a speech discourse.
• To develop exercises based on textual discourse of speeches to help students attain
proficiency in language.
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• To facilitate everyday class room teaching by providing sample exercises on selected
speeches under review.
• To help both the teachers and the learners of language, read, analyze develop
exercises on similar speech discourse.
Introduction
Stylistics is a branch of linguistics which focuses on lexical and literary elements. Stylistics
is a formalistic kind of approach. It is a way how a reader observes the nuances or subtleties
of only the text. One definition (Thornborrow &Wareing, 1998,p.4) identifies three key
aspects of stylistics: 1.the use of linguistics((the study of language) to approach literary
texts;2.the discussion of texts according to objective criteria rather than according to purely
subjective and impressionistic values;3.an emphasis on the aesthetic properties of language.
Stylistics defines readers interaction with the given text.. Stylisticians use the same kind of
approach for analyzing a non-literary text as they use for a literary text. The stylistic features
in a speech remain flexible and do not follow rigid rules, as style is not a matter of
grammaticality, but rather of appropriateness.
Stylistics is the study of interpretation of texts from linguistic perspective. As a discipline it
is a connection between literary criticism and linguistics. Stylistics looks at what is 'going
on' within the language, what are the linguistic associations that the style of language
reveals. With stylistics we aim to explain how the words of a text create the feeling and
responses that we get when we read them. M.A.K. Halliday thinks, the processor of stylistic
analysis can be divided into three logically ordered phrases: Analysis, Interpretation and
Evaluation. Although two sentences may have exactly the same ideational and interpersonal
functions, they may be different in terms of textual coherence (Hu Zhuanglin, 1988:315)
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Modern stylistics has its roots in Russian formalism. Charles Bally proposed stylistic as a
distinct academic discipline to complement Saussurean linguists. Another linguistic Fowler
comments that "different fields produce different language, most obviously at the level of
vocabulary (Fowler. 1996, 192)
In the Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language, Crystal observes that in practice, most stylistic
analysis has attempted to deal with the complex and valued language within literature i.e.
'literary stylistics'.
Collins Dictionary defines :stylistics describes things relating to the methods and techniques
used in creating a piece of writing,music or art.
The Websters' dictionary speaks stylistics as 'an aspect of literary study that emphasized the
analysis of various elements of style(as metaphor and diction); the study of the devices in a
language that produce expressive value.
l.Critical discourse analysis "concerns itself with the use of language in a runnmg
discourse, continued over a number of sentences, and involving the interaction of speaker (or
writer) and auditor (or reader) in a specific situational context, and within a framework of
social and cultural conventions" (Abraham and Harpham; A Glossary of Literacy Terms
200S.P.).
Critical Discourse Analysis is an emergent branch of linguistics which is in the
process of developing and defining its basic assumptions and concepts. However it
includes not only traditional syntax as the final largest unit of language but also goes
well beyond to embrace the content, ideology, theories expressed through language
and also the study of the aim of the speaker in using these devices.
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The term 'CDA' came to be used in 1970s in relation to the study of language under
critical Linguistics. CDA is an inter disciplinary approach to study language from
different stand points in which it combines three separate forms of analysis into one
another namely (a) analysis oflanguage texts (written or spoken form) (b) analysis of
discourse practice which includes the process of text production, distribution and
consumption and (C) analysis of the discussing event as instance of sociocultural
practice.
At the first level CDA considers the syntax, metaphor, structure and various rhetorical
devices used in the text i.e. a type of stylistic analysis. At the second level it studies
the production, distribution and consumption of the text focusing on 'how power
relations are enacted. At the third level the analysis is concerned with the inter textual
understanding, trying to understand the broad societal currents that are affecting the
text being studied.
In critical domain as van Dijk in his book The Handbook of Discourse Analysis says
"Critical discourse analysis (CDA) is a type of discourse analytical research that
primarily studies the way social power abuse, dominance and inequality are enacted,
reproduced and resisted by text and talk in the social and political context".
According to another linguist Fairclough the term refers to "the whole process of
interaction of which a text is just a part" (Fairclough. 1989. p. 24) Critical discourse
analysis includes the place of language in social relations of power and ideology, and
how language figures in processes of social change". (Norman Fairclough). CDA thus
is the study of the ways in which language is used in different texts and varying
contexts.
Let us now deconstruct the term 'Critical Discourse Analysis' and understand what
they signify when synchronized. Before a detailed study of the whole approach of
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CDA it is necessary to make the three basic concepts namely 'Critical', 'Discourse'
and' Analysis' quite clear.
"Critical" means, as Ruth Wodak says, not taking things for granted, openmg up
complexity, challenging reductionism, dogmatism and dichotomies, being self reflective
in research, and through these processes, making opaque structures of power relations
and ideologies. "Critical", thus, does not imply the common sense meaning of "being
negative"- "skeptical". In CDA the notion of 'critical' is mainly applied to the
engagement with power relations. The role of this critical approach is to unfold the
hidden power relations very wisely constructed through the use of language.
The term 'discourse' is also a very contested and contestable term and a debated and
debatable term. Let us first know its literal meaning? According to ALD ( Advance
Leamer's Dictionary) 'discourse' means- 'a speech or piece of writing about a particular,
usually serious subject, a communication in speech or writing'. According to Collins
dictionary- 'it is spoken or written communication between people, especially serious
discussion of a particular subj ect; a discourse is a serious talk or piece of writing which is
intended to teach or explain something'.
Analysis in CDA doesn't confine itself to structural and textual analysis. Going one step
further CDA, analyses not only what is said and included but also what is excluded (what
moves beneath the text) In this study stylistic analysis and CDA deal with an implicit or
explicit comparison of linguistic features between a collection of textual discourse of
speeches. Through the use of stylistic and critical analysis I have tried to untie every knot
from the speeches for a better understanding of a speech by the students. However there
is further scope of exploring the speeches by giving certain theory or making model for
analysis. James Gee uses the term discourse to enact activities and identities. while MC
Carthy uses the term to discuss language beyond the sentence level- an analytical
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advance that allows us to consider some of the things that are happening in the language
and that are only observable if we look beyond single sentence".
The present study analyses the great speeches or discourses by the great orators using
Stylistics and CDA. Out of a gamut of speeches, this study specifies four categories
of speeches viz. Political, Organizational, Cultural and Motivational speeches.
These speeches not only reflect the structural meaning but also social, political and
psychological discourse running throughout the subtext of the speeches. These
speeches have been delivered in different context and different situations.
Nevertheless when analyzed critically all of them are found replete with hidden,
indirect, related and even unexpressed discourse. These speeches became popular
speeches in their respective fields whether it may be political, social, cultural,
motivational or organizational sphere. Critical Discourse Analysis considers the
power relations behind these speeches. In the proposed research we combine both the
tools of interpretation; stylistics and CDA for finding analogy, simile, metaphor,
alliteration, repetition, parallelism and ideology, social political or psychological
discourse respectively.
Literature Review of Research Topic
Stylistics is a sub discipline of linguistics which grew up in the second half of the twentieth
century. It began as Anglo - American criticism with the publication of the books: "Style in
Language" by Sebeok, Thomas A. (1960) Cambridge. "Essays on Style in Language" by
fowler Roger (ed.) (1966) London. "Linguistics and Literary style" by Freemen; Donald c.
(ed.) (1971) New York.
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Stylistics has its roots to the novel way of looking at the text which focuses on interpreting
the text rather than the author .Talking retrospectively we can say nineteenth Century literary
criticism concentrated on the author while twentieth century concentrated on studying text
rather than authors i.e. the language of text. One of the pioneers of such "new criticism"
LA. Richards, rejected undue concentration on author and favoured analysis of language of
text. Following Richards, Roman Jakobson became one of the most influential linguists of
the zo" century who emphasized on Stylistics considerably. In Britain Linguistic Stylistics
was established by British linguists in 1930s. The other important proponents are M.A.K.
Halliday, John Sinclair and John Rupert Firth. Michael Halliday played an important role in
development of British stylistics. He published 'Linguistics Functions and Literary style' in
1971. Fowler comments that different fields produce different language, most obviously at
the level of vocabulary (Fowler. 1996, 192). In the Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language,
Crystal observes that most of the stylistic analysis has attempted to deal with the complex
and valued Language with literature i.e. literary stylistics.
Critical Discourse Analysis emerged from 'Critical Linguistics (CL) developed at the
university of East Anglia in the 1970s, and in general parlance the terms are inter changeable
with each other. In particular CDA was first developed by the Lancaster school of linguists of
which Norman Fairclough was the most prominent figure. Ruth Wodak has also made a
remarkable contribution in his field of study. Her research is mainly located in Discourse
studies and in Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). Together with her colleagues and Ph.D.
students in Vienna, she elaborated the "Discourse Historical Approach in CDA" which is
inter disciplinary, problem oriented, and analyses changes in discursive practices over time
and in various genres. The approach draws from several disciplines in the humanities and
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social sciences, such as critical linguistics. In addition to linguistic theory, the approach CDA
draws from social theory also. Ideology has been called the basis of social representations.
In Britain CDA originated in 1980s when the work "Language and Control" was published
by Tony Trew. Van Dijk (1985) who alongwith M.A.K. Halliday is known to be the pioneers
in the field. In the past twenty years, the concept Critical Discourse Analysis developed
quickly in abroad and achieved great achievements. A large number of scholars have made
contribution in the field of critical analysis of political, motivational, cultural or business
discourse. Some work has been done in China also, however, CDA is comparatively a kind
of new study in China. Only a few researchers work in this field. Since 90s of the last
century, some articles about the basic theories and principles of CDA have just appeared in
linguistic journals. In China Chen Zhongzhu, a professor in Beijing University was the first
person who introduced CDA to China. He made a review of the critical linguistics and
introduced its philosophical and theoretical foundations to Chinese linguistics. Xin Bin is
another prominent and productive scholar of CDA in China from 1996 to 2002, he published
many articles to further the study of Critical Discourse Analysis in which he discussed the
birth, development and methods of critical linguistics.
The start of the CDA network was marked by the launch of Van Dijk's (1990) journal
Discourse and Society as well as by several books which were coincidentally published
simultaneously and led by similar research.
The CDA group is a network of scholars emerged in the early 1990s. Through the support of
the university of Amsterdam, Teun Van Dijk, Norman Fair Clough, Gunther Kress, Theo
Van Leeuwen and Ruth Wodak discussed theories and methods of Discourse Analysis,
specifically CDA.
Me Carthy (1994) has also used the term to discuss language beyond the sentence level - an
analytical advance that allows use to consider some of the things that are happening in
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language that are only observable if we look beyond single sentence- the concept of 'this'
and 'that' which covers the whole ideology and policy of the speaker and the opponent.
Research Gap:
In the literature review of the proposed topic it is found that
• Studies/ works on stylistic analysis of speeches have been done in India as well as
abroad.
• Studies/works on CDA of speeches have been done mainly in abroad and rarely in
India.
• Studying speeches together and from different strata of life is still to be explored.
• Moreover a detailed study of speeches coalescing stylistics and Critical Discourse
Analysis is required which the present research poses to go with
• A comprehensive and elaborate analysis will help us see the monumental impact of
speech discourse in our day today socio-political set up.
• In the present study selected speeches will be scrutinized in relation to stylistic and
CDA thereby developing exercises.
• These speeches will try to fill the gap in developing exercises on speeches for the
students of under graduate level.
Methodology
In this research work various theoretical and methodological approaches will be applied from
a sociological and epistemological perspective. Focus will be mainly on three central
concepts- power, ideology and critique. Some of the principles and aims of Critical
Discourse Analysis will also be discussed. With stylistics analysis of speeches i.e. finding
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figures of speech, symbols, imagery and lexicons of speeches, a critical analysis of speeches
will be done finding ideology, social, political or psychological discourse.
Most of the speeches will be taken from 'A Book of Modem Speeches' by Rakesh Batalya
and analyzed. The focus will be particularly on ideology, interpersonal and textual
information in speeches. The extracted portions will be carefully analyzed and exercises will
be developed on the bases of stanzas and story comprehension.
Scheme Of Chapterisation:
This proposal Puts forth stylistic analysis and Critical Discourse Analysis of a collection of
speeches from different categories (two speeches from each political, cultural, organizational
and motivational speeches) produced over a period of time by famous orators.
Chapter I deals with introduction of Stylistics and Critical Discourse Analysis. It also deals
with the detailed account of how speech analysis is done critically; an extended account of
the CDA, what it is and how it works. It also tells why CDA is considered to be the
appropriate approach in dealing with the type of discourses chosen for analysis. Why is this
particular method of analysis preferred to others? How many speeches have been taken and
why?
Chapter II deals with analysis of political speeches of two famous speakers. CDA theory,
principle and aims. An explanation of Halliday's theory and principles and also that of
Norman Fairclough. The concept of politico, socio and psycho analytical discourse in various
speeches is discussed here.
Chapter III deals with analysis of cultural speeches of two famous speakers; a detailed
analysis of speeches by applying Critical Discourse Analysis. This chapter also deals with the
process of globalization seen as a phenomenon closely linked to the events that triggered the
speeches.
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Chapter IV deals with the analysis of organizational speeches of two famous speakers and
how the speakers win and convince the audience with their direct and indirect discourse.
Chapter V deals with analysis of motivational speeches to two famous speakers and how
the contextual use of words and sentences work to motivate the audience.
Chapter VI deals with a comparative study of speeches regarding different ideologies of the
different orators. This chapter also presents exercises based on textual comprehension of
different speeches as on stanza and passages. It also presents exercises based on textual
comprehension of different speeches as on stanza and passage.
Chapter VII deals with conclusion and the possible outcomes of the research work.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
• Agger, B. (1992a). Cultural Studies as Critical Theory. London: Falmer Press.
• Dellinger, B. (1995) Critical Discourse Analysis, Available at
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